Arts Research in Action

I am well and truly over the jet lag now and getting on well in beautiful San Francisco. I’m learning all the MUNI routes and my legs are getting used to the hills.

Since my last post I have helped to construct a princess platform for the faux queen pageant and I’ve interviewed the fabulous Frida K Hole (one of my competitors at the pageant).

Yesterday I spent the morning pre-scouting some interview spots and in the process I missed out on the best ice-cream in the city when a flock of teenagers with DSLR’s ran in front of me and formed an enormous line. Oh well, I don’t NEED ice-cream. I also spent some time frolicking in a pop-up Halloween store where I found all manner of amazing items that you normally have to special order in Australia.

At the Halloween store the attendant asked me if we have Halloween in Australia, I said, “Not really, some kids did come to my front door last year and I had nothing for them”. She asked if I was visiting and I told her I was here for the faux queen pageant and I was a contestant. She said as I left, “Good luck with your competition”. This was the first time EVER that I have told a complete stranger that I’m in a faux queen pageant and they haven’t looked at me like I have two heads and an alien popping out of my chest Sigourney style. Woohoo I’m in San Francisco!

In the afternoon I skipped over to Bea Dazzler’s place to do my bit for the faux queen cause and construct a princess platform from pieces of scrap lumber she found on the street. To be fair, my partner who is travelling with me did most of the design and build. I was safety officer, aka holding the drill cord. I was also instrumental in hot gluing fabric onto the finished product. Hot gluing is one of my special talents.

I won’t give too much away about the functionality of the princess platform; you peoples can wait until my video footage of the pageant goes up on agorafauxbia.com J

Most recently I interviewed Frida K Hole, one of the contestants in the faux queen pageant and a local San Francisco faux queen. Frida chatted to me about how she came to be involved in the drag scene in San Francisco, and how her drag persona evocatively intertwines with her everyday self.

Best of luck on Saturday Frida and it was lovely talking with you today!